


Car Door Blues

by ShiekahKami



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Accidents, Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-28
Updated: 2017-12-28
Packaged: 2019-02-23 03:48:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13181730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShiekahKami/pseuds/ShiekahKami
Summary: Shiro never would have expected that accidentally knocking that cute guy out could change his life for the better.





	Car Door Blues

**Author's Note:**

> Big thank you to [holley-akuma-lewis](http://holley-akuma-lewis.tumblr.com) for beta reading this story!

Shiro cursed under his breath, regretting how he had allowed Allura and Matt to persuade him to a sleepover. A sleepover full of alcohol, movies and gossip (but mainly on Allura’s and Matt’s part). A sleepover only one day before his tutoring job at the local college started.

Fate could be a cruel mistress and on this particular day, it felt like she was out to get Shiro personally. Shiro turned his car into the same street what felt like the hundredth time. He dared to spare a glance at the clock and lost hope when he saw the time, realizing that he was beyond late. 

Gripping the steering wheel a little bit too tightly, he decided to try his luck again. There had to be a free parking space _somewhere_.

How a college as respected as this one did not even try to make any effort to make it more reachable was far beyond his understanding.

Shiro’s nerves felt like they were about to snap. What kind of role model would he be after he showed up 15 minutes too late as a tutor? He only hoped that the students wouldn’t take his delay as an excuse to go back home. He knew all too well how the lack of discipline could be the end of any good grades in college.

The initial lack of luck was forgotten as soon as he saw someone else pulling out of one of the highly coveted parking spaces. Shiro was glad that he finally managed to park his car and turned to the passenger seat after he applied the handbrake and rummaged around for his teaching material. 

The next thing that followed was completely unexpected, but entirely his fault. Without checking for any traffic or pedestrians, he opened his door to exit his car. The first thing that attracted his attention was the resistance he felt upon moving the door. The second thing was the loud banging noise and an audible groan. 

Startled, Shiro got out of the car and searched for the source of the noise. His heart sank to his boots as his gaze fell upon an unconscious young man on the ground.  
How much bad luck could a person actually have on a single day?

Shiro searched for his phone to call for an ambulance. The young man was breathing, but bled out of his nose. Otherwise, he seemed to be okay. Well, as long as anyone didn’t pay too much attention to the fact that he was lying unconscious on the ground. 

Shiro crouched down next to the man and entered another number into his cell phone. He waited for a few rings before the phone on the other end of the line was picked up.  
“Allura? I am sorry to wake you. Could you take over my tutoring shift? I fear that I won’t be able to make it.”

*

Shiro followed the paramedics in his own car. He felt a little pang after leaving the parking space behind, but his guilt drove him to follow the man he unwillingly knocked down. He was sitting in the waiting area, looking at the screen of his phone every two minutes.

After what felt like ages, a nurse approached him to tell him that the man had woken up. Shiro followed the nurse, not sure how his presence would be received.

They entered the patient’s room and the first thing Shiro noticed was the big white patch of dressing material plastered over the lean man’s face. It looked like a fracture of the nasal bone, the discoloration spread even further, over the man’s cheekbones and down to his upper lip. How the man had managed to get his face on level with his car door was still a mystery to him.

Shiro sat down on the chair next to the bed and prepared for an uncomfortable conversation to follow. He took a deep breath with the intention to apologize for the pain he has caused, but the other man was faster.

“Man, you look like some kind of specimen!” 

Shiro stared at the man, apology forgotten. 

“I- You- Excuse me?” he sputtered.

“Are you the car dude?”

Shiro was surprised at the path this conversation took, but decided to play along.

“That would be me,” he replied and slightly shifted on his chair to face the other more fully. “I am sorry about what happened earlier. Even though I am quite amazed how you managed to run face first into my car door.”

An embarrassed chuckle escaped the man’s throat and Shiro’s gaze was met with a sheepish smile.

“I let my bouncy ball drop.”

The statement was barely audible enough to be heard with the words being whispered and the other’s voice being muffled by his nasal tone. But as soon as Shiro made sense of the words, he couldn’t stop his laughter from bubbling out of his chest.

“Your _bouncy ball_?” 

“Don’t make fun of me!” the other man complained, but Shiro could sense that there was no real bite to his words.

“I am sorry, I am not going to question you about your bouncy ball.”

He held his right hand out as a peace offering and met the other’s gaze with a grin.

“I’m Shiro, by the way.”

The man accepted the offering and shook Shiro’s hand.

“Lancey Lance. Nice to meet you, Cap.”

Shiro lifted an eyebrow at the nickname, but didn’t spare it any comment.

“I am really sorry about what happened earlier. I will pay for the medical treatment if you want to.”

Lance shook his head and looked at Shiro mischievously. 

“Nope. Everything is forgiven and forgotten if you go out on a date with me, though.”

This demand took Shiro so unexpected that he almost choked on his own spit and had to cough for a few moments.

“You- What?”

The heartfelt laughter Shiro got in return made his heart flutter.

*

Later that afternoon, Shiro made a short detour to Allura’s apartment. He could see that she had been concerned about him, but he reassured her that everything was alright by recounting the events of the day.

Shiro had stayed with Lance for more than an hour after the initial conversation, allowing himself to forget the time for a little while. Talking to Lance had been easy and all his previous guilt had been quickly forgotten.

It had also helped that the man was rather easy on the eyes, even with the obvious discoloration around his nose, but Allura didn’t need to know that.

The smirk on Allura’s lips told him that he had failed terribly trying to hide it.

“When are the two of you going to meet again?”

Shiro accepted the glass of water Allura offered him and frowned.

“We won’t,” he replied, not elaborating any further.

“What? Why not? I can tell that you want to!”

Shiro shook his head and looked down at his beverage. “I can’t, I… don’t have any way to contact him.”

Allura let the words sink in as she stared at her best friend.

“You didn’t think to ask him for his number.”

Shiro shook his head again.

“ _Shiro!_ ”

*

The days passed and Shiro found his thoughts trailing back to the brunet day after day. The hours blended into each other and soon he had to get ready for his tutoring job again.  
He prepared the teaching material and hoped that this time everything would go more smoothly than the first time.

 

And it did. He neither overslept, nor did he have to spend countless hours searching for an open parking space. Shiro was still slightly embarrassed that he hadn’t been able to make it to the first tutoring lesson, but he knew that Allura was a capable tutor herself and that she more than made up for his absence.

Shiro took his bag under his arm as he made his way from his car to the room he would give his lessons in.

The room was still empty as he settled down behind his desk and started preparing his day ahead.

After a while, the first students started entering the room. Shiro smiled, as he greeted every single one of them. Slowly but surely the roomed filled with people and chatter and after a while, it was time to start his lesson. 

As he stood up to begin the tutoring, the door opened and three students stumbled inside the room.  
Shiro turned to face the newcomers and the moment he realized who had entered the room, his heart jumped into his throat. The man, whose nose he had accidentally broken, was standing right in front of him.

Lance seemed to be as surprised as he himself was, judging by the way his friends had to drag him to the last free tables.

Shiro needed a few seconds before he regained his composure He needed to continue his lesson, even though he could still feel how his blood was pumping through his veins.

Other than the initial shock of seeing Lance, his first real lesson went rather smoothly. He was able to resolve some uncertainties and ended the hour with some voluntary homework and thanked the students for their attention.

Shiro asked them to leave the previous homework in a pile on his desk and dismissed them.

The room cleared out and Shiro couldn’t help himself but seek the eye contact with the brunet man who refused to leave his thoughts during the past week.

Lance was still with his friends, but Shiro could see how the short, ginger-haired woman pushed Lance in his direction. 

Only moments later Lance stood right in front of him and the two of them were the last people in this classroom.

“Hey.”

“Hi.”

Shiro’s palms felt sweaty and he didn’t know what to say next. Nice to see you? How are you? How is your nose? Everything sounded unfitting in Shiro’s mind.

The tense atmosphere continued for a few seconds, before Lance’s laughter broke the ice.

“You still owe me a date.”

Chuckling, Shiro rubbed his neck with his left hand and let his gaze linger for a while.

“How does coffee sound?”

Lance’s grin was answer enough.

Sometimes, Shiro thought as he shouldered his bag and followed Lance outside, fate took some weird paths.


End file.
